Runaway Love
by kawooza
Summary: It's been over 3 years since Alison has been considered missing; 3 years since she has been back to Rosewood, 3 years since she has last seen her friends, 3 years since she last saw Emily. Now it's 3 years later and Alison is back in Rosewood trying to rekindle broken relationships. Will her past let her get a second chance to fix things or will it crash and burn?
1. Chapter 1

Silence filled the air with an occasional humming from the bright neon signs and a light breeze. The golden blonde haired girl grabbed her jacket and tightly wraps it around herself in an attempt of helping her keep warm as she makes her way down the all too familiar road.

It's been over 3 years since Alison has been considered missing; 3 years since she has been back to Rosewood, 3 years since she has last seen her friends, 3 years since she last saw Emily. Alison shook the depressing thought out of her mind and reminds herself that it was for the best. She was only holding her friends back from their successful lives and she needed to start her life over because she ruined it in high school, making more enemies than making friends. Although, being away for 3 years was long enough for her to get her life together and understand that what she did in the past was horrible.

The wind started to pick up a bit and the blonde only had on a light jacket along with a yellow blouse protecting her from the cold. Starting to pick up her pace, Alison starts to look for some place to get warmth. Seeing a shop radiating with light, she makes a beeline for the shop. Stopping once she got to the front doors, she looks up at the illuminated sign that was on the coffee shop and it read 'Rear Window Brew'. Hesitant, the blonde pushes the dark olive green doors open, making the small hanging doorbell chime.

As she quickly enters and shut the door behind her, the warm intoxicating aroma of freshly brewed coffee immediately fills her nose. Alison scans the quite large coffee shop in hopes that she doesn't run into someone from her past. Noticing that there was barely any customers, the blonde relaxes and walks towards an empty orange couch, taking a seat.

Alison grabs her purse and pulls out her phone to turn it on; the phone lit with life as the screen read _9:32pm_. She lets out a soft annoyed sigh and tosses her phone carelessly back into her purse. Crossing her arms, Alison acknowledges that The Brew changed over the years she has been gone. The walls are a mix of bricks along with orange or olive green painted walls.

As Ali was looking around she notices a middle aged man approaching her with a smile. He was wearing a deep navy blue t-shirt with a picture of a skull and bones on with along with the words "The Clash" on it, with a pair of washed out jeans. The man finally reaches Alison and started to speak,

"Hey, my name is Zack." the friendly man greets her, extending his hand.

"Ali" Alison said a little too bluntly as she carefully took Zack's hand to shake it.

"That's a pretty name." Zack compliments her as he flashed Ali another smile.

"Thanks?" the blonde replies, unsure if he was trying to flirt with her or he is just being friendly.

"Do you want anything? Coffee? A muffin?" the brown haired man offers politely.

"Um, no thanks." she answers, a bit unease about the man.

"Aw, come on. It's on the house! Just don't tell the owner." Zack jokingly whispers the last part.

"Who might that be?" Alison questions, now relaxed knowing that Zack was just being friendly.

"His name is Zack." Zack gave Alison another dorky smile, showing his teeth this time.

Alison rolls her eyes, a bit amused and answers, "Okay then, can I get a vanilla latte?"

Zack nods at her response and replied, "Sure, I'll have one of my workers bring it right out for you."

Zack turns around and heads towards the kitchen. While Alison was waiting for her latte, she grabs a magazine from the coffee table in front of her and opens it. But, instead of focusing on the magazine, Alison's mind was somewhere else.

Why was she back in Rosewood? It's been 3 years since she has last spoke to anyone and now here she is, back in the same out town that 3 years back, she wanted to leave so badly. Alison clearly knew that her friends wouldn't be here, because they would've graduated high school and left the small boring town for somewhere exciting and filled with adventure. A little bit depressed from the thoughts of probably never seeing her friends again, Alison tried to distract herself with the magazine.

A few minutes passed and Alison was almost finished with her magazine when she heard a light thumping of sneakers hitting the hard cement flooring. Alison closes her magazine and was about to set it back on the table until she felt hot liquid spill on her.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I- I'm new to this job and I-" The female voice quickly apologized.

Alison immediately looks down at her outfit in rage, the liquid that spilled on her was her suppose to be vanilla latte. Ali tries really hard to work on her rude personality and didn't want to cause a scene, but she was cold, alone, tired and now her outfit is ruined - great.

Alison grits her teeth and tries to stay calm, "No, no it's fine."

"No, it isn't. Oh my god, I feel so horrible." The worker bends down to become face to face with Alison and handd her some napkins.

Ali looks at the female worker's arm to notice the familiar tan skin color. Taking the napkins gratefully, Alison looks up and met the familiar chocolate brown eyes of the worker. Quickly putting the pieces together, her eyes widen in shock and all of the air in her lung was knocked out.

"...Ali…?" The now no longer mysterious female worker asks hesitantly.

Alison's heart was beating irregularly fast, so fast that she thought it would burst any second. She built up all of her remaining courage and answers the worker's question with one of her own, "Emily?"

* * *

**A/N: Hey! This is my first ever Emison fanfiction, so go easy on me, aha. I really love this ship so why not write about them?! I hope you enjoy this chapter so far and continue reading. Please leave a review on what you think, suggestions, or just some stuff I need to work on. Thank you for reading, I'll update soon! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey! I asked about your guys' opinion and you guys motivated me to update earlier and such.**

**Emison17 - I'm making this story based off the characters and their relationship and making a different plot for them. So to answer you question, Alison moved away (well ran away) willingly - without any -A or nothing. :)**

**Okay, I don't understand why I'm holding you guys up from reading; On to the story!**

* * *

"Emily?" Alison gasps in shock at the brunette who was responsible for the huge coffee stain on her jacket and yellow- well now a brownish yellow blouse.

"I- uh. W-when did you get back?" Emily nervously tries to make small talk.

Furrowing her eyebrows in confusion - this isn't like Emily, but then again it's been a while since Alison last saw her. Trying to keep up their chat, Alison hesitantly answers, "Um, I just got back tonight."

Emily just nods in response and focuses her attention elsewhere. Alison felt her heart clench a bit, Emily and her always had something to talk about. Knowing that their conversation wasn't going to go anywhere, she decided that it would be good to begin wiping down her almost dry blouse. They sat in a tension filled silence for a few minutes and as if Jake knew that things were awkward between them - joins their non-existing conversation.

"Hey Em, what's up? I've been calling you." Jake asks while wiping his hands with a dirty cloth towel.

"Huh? Oh uh." Emily hesitates before flashing her attention to Ali and then to Jake.

Jake looks over at the golden blonde haired girl and noticed the visual stain on her blouse. Jake just stares at the stain for a moment and Alison began to become self-conscious - which is not a common feeling for her. Just as Alison was about to snap at him for staring too long, Jake lets out a small chuckle. He shook his head in disbelief and pats Emily on the shoulder.

"Oh, Clumsy Emily." the coffee shop owner jokes.

Emily's face began turning a deep shade of red. Alison looks up at her and accidentally lets out a giggle at how adorable Emily looks when she was embarrassed. Emily hears the enchanting sounds of Alison's giggles and glances at the blonde, sending her a shy smile.

"Well, It's almost 9:45pm. I'm just here to tell you that I'm closing up and you can head out." Jake informs, breaking up their little moment.

"Oh, alright. Thank you!" Emily politely cheers with a smile.

Jake grins and left the duo to resume their tension filled silence. Some of the few customers began to exit the shop, leaving it almost deserted and seeing that there is almost no one left, Alison thought it would be best if she left as well. The blonde grabs her purse and pushes herself up from her seat on the couch as Emily just stood there, watching. Ali was about to walk towards the door before turning back to face her old best friend.

"It's getting late, I think I should go." she announces and began to navigate her way to the exit.

Emily just responds with a small nod and a small smile, while avoid making eye contact with Ali. As the blonde haired girl reaches the door, she places her hand on the handle - hesitant about leaving the girl who held her heart behind, like she did 3 years ago. Alison looks back once more at the brunette to see her tucking a loose strand of her hair behind her ear, studying the cold cement floor as if it was an expensive work of art. The now broken hearted girl slowly pulls the dark olive green door open and lets out a soft sigh. Emily didn't care for her anymore, although why would she? When Alison ran away during Junior year, she convinced Emily that she wasn't important enough for the blonde to stay. Pulling the door wide open, Alison's body was hit with icy cold air. Walking out of The Brew and into the eerie night sky, Alison quickly rushes down the street where she came from. After a short quiet moment of silence filled walking, a small bell chime and the familiar sound of sneakers hitting against the sidewalk were heard in the distance.

"Ali!" Emily calls out.

Alison whips her head around to meet the sight of Emily running towards her as fast as her swimmer legs can take her. Emily abruptly stops right in time before crashing into the blonde.

"I just wanted to say goodnight." Emily pant while adjusting her bag.

A big smile appears on Ali's face and her heart skipped a beat when she heard Emily's sentence, did she really waste all that energy just to say 'goodnight'? Being in such a giddy mood, Ali grabs Emily to give her tight hug. Emily buried her head into the shorter girl's neck and inhaled deeply, the exhilarating scent of vanilla fills her nose - the same old Ali, but- this wasn't the same Ali from Junior year. Of course not, it's been 3 years, Ali could've easily changed within that amount of time. Alison was the first one to pull away from the hug, which to each girl's disappointment was way too short. Smiling, Alison finally gave Emily what she ran here for.

"Goodnight Emily." Alison softly states.

"Goodnight Alison." Emily replies in the same soft tone as Alison's, giving her a soft smile.

Alison reciprocated the kind gesture and turned around on her heels to begin walking down the familiar street. Although, before she could move she felt a warm gentle hand on her shoulder, turning her back to face Emily.

"Um, do you have a place to stay?" Emily pondered out loud.

"Uh, no I don't actually. I was thinking about going back to my apartment in Ravenswood." the blonde reveals.

"So, you have a place in Ravenswood, huh?" the brunette confidently queries, nudging the blonde playfully.

"Yes, I do and I have to get back to it." Ali said with a smile on her lips, while she shoves her hands into her jacket pockets to keep them from freezing in the cold.

"Ravenswood is pretty far." the swimmer acknowledges.

"Indeed it is, Em." Alison jokingly states.

The brunette's heart tugged at her former crush calling her by her nickname.

"And it's really late." Emily decides to add.

"Mmm, it's only about 10pm," the blonde clarifies.

"I'm sure if I leave now, I can make it to my apartment before midnight." Ali continues.

"Uh, why don't you just stay with me for the night?" Emily blurts out.

Alison whips her head around so fast that she was surprised that she didn't get whiplash.

"What did you say?" Alison asks the swimmer, wanting to make sure she heard the sentence correctly.

"I asked if you want to spend the night at my apartment." the brunette replies along with her newfound confidence.

* * *

**A/N: Oh oh oh, cliffhanger. Will Ali say yes or will she reject Emily's kind offer? You'll have to wait until the next update to find out! Again, thank you so much for the kind reviews, follows and favorites, it means a lot! Also, thanks for kind motivation, I'm glad that you guys enjoy the story so far. The more people who follow, favorite, or review - the faster I update! So please leave a review, or just favorite/follow. Thanks for reading, I'll update soon! :)**


	3. Chapter 3

A million thoughts were running through Alison's head as she heard Emily's offer. _Why is she doing this? Why is she being so nice to me after I was so awful to her? Wait, is she going to murder me?! Oh, wait. No, Emily wouldn't do that - would she? Well shit, what if screwed Emily over, causing her to became a psycho maniac?! ...An innocent, adorable, hot psycho manic. God, I would totally be okay with her torturing and murdering me._

As the blonde stand there lost in her own train of thought, the swimmer was getting tired of waiting for the simple yes or no answer.

"Um, Ali?" the brunette waves her hand in front of Alison's eye. "You there?"

The blonde shook her head while rapidly blinking to get out of her little trance, "Yeah?"

"So…?" the swimmer trying to push the answer out of Ali

"So?" the shorter girl replies confused.

"You want to spend the night at my place or are you going back to Ravenswood?"

"Oh. Yeah, why not? I mean, we can catch up and stuff." Alison replies

"Great, did you bring your car or do you need a ride?"

"Um, I walked here. So, a ride would be awesome." Ali smiles.

Emily gives her a small smile and took a risk by gently grabbing the shorter girl's hand, leading her the opposite way that Alison was originally heading. When the taller girl's hand clutched the blonde's hand, Ali's breath got caught in her lungs. A few steps later, the two girls arrived in front of Emily's silver 2011 Toyota Corolla. As the swimmer break their handhold to go to the driver's seat, Alison couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. Pausing in front of the passenger's seat, the runaway didn't know whether or not she did the right thing by accepting Emily's offer. Although, without a second thought, she reaches for the door handle and opens the car door. Taking a seat in the car, Alison closes the door and buckle her seatbelt. Ali turns her head to study Emily starting the car and pulling out of her parking space. She couldn't help but smile at Emily being so concentrated on the road - she was just so adorable.

Feeling eyes watching her, Emily turns to meet the a pair of piercing blue eyes. Flashing a quick smile, the taller girl quickly refocus her attention to the road. The car ride was silent, but not like the tension filled silence they had at the coffee shop. The silence was comfortable, as if everything was like it used to be - as if everything was back to normal. But it wasn't, Ali knew everything wasn't back to normal, it just seemed like it. She knew that Emily would want answers and Alison doesn't know if she was ready.

* * *

Arriving at Emily's apartment complex, Alison took notice at where it was located. It was in the middle of Rosewood, in a somewhat expensive neighborhood. Unbuckling their seat belts and exiting the car, the brunette turns to check on the blonde. Instead of being by the passenger's side of the car where Alison was suppose to be, there was no one standing there. Confused, Emily knits her eyebrows together before feeling an arm link with hers. Turning her head due to the contact, she was met with Ali smiling at her - It was her turn to be courageous.

As the duo make their way into one of the many buildings, Emily decided to start a conversation. "So, are you still in school?" the swimmer asks to break the ice.

"Um, no actually. I don't have the money, either way I think school is a waste of time." the shorter girl looking up at the taller girl, smirking and tightens her grip on Emily's arm a little.

The pair stopped at the elevator, breaking their link so Emily could push the button that leads upwards.

"Typical Alison Dilaurentis." the brunette chuckles and shakes her head in disbelief.

Alison gave Emily a quick smile, before tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. Leaning against the wall, Emily lets out a tired sigh while running her hand through her hair.

"Do you?" the blonde randomly blurts out.

"Huh?"

"Do you go to college?" Ali clarifying her question.

The elevator doors open and the two high school graduates enter the small tight box, the swimmer pushing the button to the 3rd floor. The automatic steel doors slowly closes, leaving the two trapped in the raising elevator.

"Yeah, I do. I go to Hollis."

"Really? What do you want to do?" Alison asks intrigued.

"I want be a professional swimmer, but-"

"But?"

Emily shot Alison a 'just let me finish' look and continued, "But, when you were gone within the 3 years. I had a near death experience and it messed up my shoulder pretty bad."

"Oh my gosh, are you alright?" the runaway felt her heart broke into a million pieces when she heard that her best friend was hurt and she wasn't there to take care of her.

The elevator came to a stop and little out a high-pitched _ding_, before the doors finally open. Emily was the first to leave the cramped space and was followed by, of course, Alison. The two made it down the somewhat long hallway and came to a stop in front of a door marked 316. Emily opens her purse and dug through it before pulling out a set of keys, finding the one for her apartment and inserting it into the lock.

"Yeah I am, I just can't swim as competitively as I used to though." the college student replies a bit disappointed.

"I feel horrible Em. I wasn't here to help you an-" the blonde starts.

Ali's eye started to get a bit watery and Emily couldn't stand to see her cry over something she had no control over.

"No, no it's alright Ali. Seriously, that accident made me stronger as a person." the brunette replies looking over at Alison to make sure she was okay, before opening the apartment door. Smiling at the runaway to reassure her that she was fine before walking inside.

"So, you never told me what you wanted to be." the shorter girl brought up while trailing behind, making sure to close the door behind her.

"A swim coach." the taller girl answers while putting up her jacket in the coat closet, before turning around to face Ali.

"Well, welcome to the place I call home." Emily smiles and gestures around the visual parts of her apartment from the front door.

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**A/N: Welp, here it is - chapter 3! I hope you guys enjoyed it like I enjoyed writing it. Thank you for all of the support, it really gives me a lot of motivation to continue on with this story. I have a huge test tomorrow so I might update late, but I'll update nonetheless! I hope you have a great day/afternoon/night, and please leave a review/follow/favorite. Thank you so much!**


	4. Chapter 4

Emily's apartment was pretty spacious for a single person to live in. There was a medium sized living room, a small kitchen, two bedrooms along with a bathroom. The room was pretty warm, so Alison reculently took off her jacket.

"Oh, here let me get that for you." the brunette took the blonde, hanging it up in the coat closet like she did before.

"Thanks."

"Yeah, no problem."

The duo stood in silence, before Emily scanned Ali remembering about the stain on her blouse.

"We should get you into some new clothes." the ex-swimmer replies jokingly.

"Wait, what?" the runaway asks confused, before looking down on her outfit. "Oh, yeah that would be nice."

"Follow me, I'll show you where you'll be sleeping. Then I'll bring you some clothes." the taller girl grasps the shorter girl's arm leading her to a empty guest room.

"Um, you can get settled in and I'll bring you some clothes."

Before Emily could exit Alison lightly grabs her arm, "Thank you so much, Em."

"No problem Ali, anything for a friend." Emily replies nonchalantly, turning around once more to leave. Ali held her grip, lightly pulling Emily back to face her.

"No, seriously." the blonde began in a serious tone. "I treated you like crap when I was still here and you still stayed by my side when nobody was."

"The girls were by your side too Ali, not just me." the brunette explains with a gentle voice.

"I know, but the girls didn't care for me like you do." Alison states.

"I'll go get you some clothes." the taller girl changing the topic, while placing her free hand over Alison's, gently removing her grip. As the taller girl left to go across the hall to her room, the shorter girl looks around the empty room. The room was well furnished, it had a full sized bed along with a closet and a dresser that had a mirror on it. Placing her purse on the bed, she made her way around the room. Alison slowly drew her fingers across the dresser that was made out of mahogany. _How can Emily afford this stuff?_ Before Alison could question any farther, the sound of knuckles gently knocking on the wooden door. _Knock knock._ The blonde quickly turns around to see who was that the door.

"Um, I don't really have any long pajamas." the taller girl enters handing a long t-shirt and pajama shorts to the shorter girl.

"It's okay. It's pretty warm as it is right now." Alison replies.

"I don't know, it tends to get colder at night in this type of weather."

"I'm sure if it gets colder I can deal with it."

"I'll get you some blankets just in case." Emily giggles and closes the door behind her, leaving a small crack as she leaves the room once again.

Knowing that its a bit too late to shower, Alison decides to change into her pajamas. She took off her ruined blouse and tossed it on the bed near her purse. As she was about to take off her jeans she heard the door open and whips her head around.

"I brought you a couple of bla-" Emily starts before looking up to see Alison standing in her bra and jeans. "Oh god, I'm sorry Ali. I forgot to knock an-" the now flushed brunette rambles on.

"Come on, Em. It's not like we haven't seen each other in our underwear before." the blonde said teasingly.

"I know, but-"

"No buts." Alison cuts in, walking over to Emily taking the blankets from her hands. "Thanks."

"Uh y-yeah n-no problem." the ex-swimmer stutters, trying her best not to look anywhere else but at Ali's eyes.

Alison giggles at Emily's awkwardness to the fact that she's half naked. This is the Emily that she know and love. Walking over to the guest bed the runaway places the blankets on top of the mattress. Turning around, seeing that Emily was still standing there awkwardly.

"Are you going to stand there and watch me change or are you going to give a girl some privacy?" Ali asks Emily with a smirk.

"You know what, I might just stay and watch." the ex-swimmer replies jokingly, leaning on the door frame. Sending Alison the same smirk that that the blonde sent her.

"Oh hush, Fields. Go change and then we can talk." the blonde smiles. The brunette nods in agreement and left the room going across the hall to her's.

After both girls getting changed, they met up in the living room. Alison was sitting on the couch waiting for the movie to start, while Emily was in the kitchen making popcorn. The beeping sound indicating that the mircowave was done cooking the popcorn fills the quiet apartment. Emily pushes the button to open the mircowave, retriving the popcorn and pouring it into a bowl. The brunette walks to the couch in front of the TV, taking a seat next to the blonde.

"Popcorn?" Emily offers, while chewing on some.

Alison grabs a handful from the bowl and pops one in her mouth, "Thanks Em."

"You know you've been saying 'Thanks' a whole lot since we ran into each other." Emily points out.

"I know, it feels weird, but I like it."

"That's what she said." the taller girl adds

"Oh my gosh! Emily Fields!" the shorter laughs and playfully slaps Emily on her arm.

The two started laughing at the simple innapporiate joke. Alison felt the weight on her shoulder being lifted and it was all because of Emily. As the laughter died down, the pair stares into each other's eyes; as if they were looking for something.

"I missed you Em. You were always my favorite." the runaway whispers softly, but loud enough so the ex-swimmer can hear over the TV playing in the background.

Emily smiles at the feeling of her heart fluttering. _I miss this, I miss the sweet side of Alison. Where she's not afraid of seeming vurenuable - where Alison can be herself without a care in the world._ Her heart controling her actions, brunette slowly leans in. The blonde saw Emily starting to lean in, and her heart started to beat rapidly. _Am I actually doing this? Wouldn't I be leading her on like I did in high school? No, shut up Alison. She has feelings for you and you obviously have feelings for her. Just kiss her already!_ Following her intinstics, Alison leans in as well. Feeling the heat raidiating from their lips, it finally hits both of them that this was actually happening.

_Knock knock. _"Emily freaking Fields! You better open this door and explain why you stood Aria, Spencer and me up tonight!" a familiar voice shouts from the other side of the door.

Emily's eyes shot wide open at the voice. _Well, so much for kissing Alison._

* * *

**A/N: There you go, chapter 4! Yes, I'm bringing the girls into this, aha. Can you guess who it is? Well, I kind of gave it away, but oh well. Thank you for reading, please review/follow/favorite! Tell me how what you guys would like to see in the future chapters and I might take those suggestions and use them! Until then, have a wonderful day/afternoon/night. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Emily's heartbeat began to pick up rapidly. _What is she doing here? _Alison slowly opens her eyes and slowly shifted away from Emily. _God damn anonymous twatblocker_. Alison ran a hand through her hair and sighs.

_Knock knock. _"Emily, you better open this door right now and explain to me why you've been avoiding us!"

"Who's that?" Alison asks curiously.

"Hanna." Emily grumbles as she got up from the couch to go to the front door.

"S-should I hide?" the blonde stutters.

"Do you want to hide?" the brunette said amused.

"I-I wasn't planning on announcing my visit back to Rosewood." the shorter girl explains.

"Well, do you want to announce it?" the taller girl asks, crossing her arms and leaning on the door.

"I don't know."

"You gotta make up your mind fast because Hanna is a bit impati-"

_KNOCK KNOCK. _"Emily, I know you're in there! I hear the TV!" Hanna yells, probably disturbing the neighbors.

"Well?" Emily asks.

"Uhm, I gu-" Alison starts

_KNOCK KNOCK._

"Hold your god damn horses, Hanna Marin!"

Alison lets out a defeated sigh, "Alright, just let Han in."

Emily looks over at Alison, making sure she was okay with her own plan. The runaway nods in approval, signalling Emily to just open the door already - her heart was pounding. As the blonde was watching the brunette turn the door knob, it felt like everything was going in slow-motion and it was agonizing. Emily finally opens the door and came bursting in was a sassy blonde. Hanna looks over at Emily while walking into the apartment.

"Okay Emily, explanations. - now." the raging blonde said pissed off.

"Han, I have a perfect explanation of why I haven't been hanging out with you guys lately." the brunette tries to explain.

"Then explain!" Hanna shouts, whipping her head to the couch - so she can watch where she was walking. The blonde stops dead in her tracks spotting her former so called best friend sitting on the couch.

"Alison?" Hanna chokes out in shock.

"Hefty Hanna isn't so hefty anymore, huh?" Alison jokes as she stood up from her seat from the couch.

Crossing her arms, the shorter blonde replies harshly, "Yeah, being bullied by a certain blonde and ending up being bulimic tends to make a person lose a lot of weight."

The runaway physically took a step back in fear of the fashionista's harsh remarks. She must admit, it did kind of stung hearing those words come from Hanna's mouth. _I was only trying to help..._ Looking away from Hanna, a bit ashamed to look the shorter blonde in the eyes to just see nothing but rage. The apartment fills with tension, due to neither of them speaking. Knowing that it would be a good time to cut in, Emily walked over to the two girls.

"So! Han, Ali, you two should take a seat and we can work this out." the brunette tries to reason with the two blondes.

"Work what out? Work out the fact that Ali was nothing but a horrible friend to me."

"Hanna!" the ex-swimmer tries to stop the fashionista.

"What! It's the truth! Alison Dilaurentis, you are a horrible, horrible person." Hanna growls.

"Hanna, you're overrea-"

"I'm sorry!" Alison cries out, a few tears streaming from her face. "I'm sorry! I'm so fucking sorry that I was just a shit excuse of a best friend. I'm sorry for being so fucked up during high school. I-I-" before she could finish her sentence she ran out of the living room and to the guest room.

"Is that why you don't want to hang out with us anymore- because of Ali?"

"No, no! It isn't like that. I seriously wasn't expecting her to show up tonight."

"So you were expecting her!" the fashionista tries to accuse the ex-swimmer.

"Han!"

"What, Emily?! Are you seriously standing up for her even after she led you on after all of those years in high school?" the shorter blonde yells.

"This is not about me being in love with her! It's about being a good friend to Alison when she is need of one the most!" the brunette now yelling over Hanna.

Hanna crosses her arm in defeat and lets out a huff, "Just because I 'hate' Ali, doesn't mean that I don't love her as a friend too."

"Hanna, that doesn't make sense." Emily sighs.

"I know." the blonde sighs, "It's just that I had all of this pent-up anger towards Ali when she would always pick on me about my weight. I- I just wanted her to know how I felt." Hanna admits, ashamed.

Emily felt somewhat bad making Hanna feel horrible, but someone had to tell her that it wasn't okay for her to insult Alison like that. "Hanna, I really think that you should go talk to Alison." the brunette said softly.

"Yeah, you're right. I'll be back." Hanna mumbles, walking towards the door that held a crying Alison Dilaurentis behind it.

_Knock knock._ "Ali?" the shorter blonde asks softly, opening the door slowly.

Alison looks up from her place on the bed, with bloodshot eyes and still wet tear stains on her cheeks.

"Oh, Ali." Hanna whispers, walking over to the bed and giving the crying blonde a hug. "I'm so sorry, you're not a horrible person."

"No, Hanna; I am, I am a horrible person." the blonde sniffles.

"Shhhh, no you're not." the shorter blonde broke the hug, looking into Ali's red, puffy eyes.

"You're right, I'm not - I was."

"Yeah… I must admit, you were." the fashionista jokes.

Alison playfully slaps Hanna's arm, laughing a bit. Laying her head on Hanna's shoulder, Alison lets out a sigh.

"You never told me why you left Rosewood in the first place." Hanna brought up.

"Um, I left because I wanted a new life. I wanted to fix my bitchy attitude and I knew that I wouldn't be able to do that if I stayed in Rosewood." the golden blonde explains.

"Seems like a legitimate reason to disappear for 3 years without leaving anything but a note."

"Well, I'm back aren't I?" Alison said harshly, crossing her arms.

"Oh, come on Ali. You know I was joking." Hanna laughs lightly, pulling Ali into another hug.

_Knock knock._ Both blonde quickly turn their attention to the door where Emily was now standing.

"It got a bit lonely in the living room." the brunette clarifies.

A smile plays on Alison's lips, "Come here, Killer." opening her arms in welcoming her into the hug.

Emily smiles in disbelief and walks into the group hug. "I'm glad you guys made up." the ex-swimmer mumbles.

"I'm glad that we did too." Alison smiles to Hanna.

* * *

**A/N: Yay! Hanna and Alison made up!** **This chapter was to introduce Alison and Hanna's past relationship, which you can see - wasn't so good. I'll introduce Aria and Spencer along with some other characters in later ****chapters, but until then... Thank you for reading and all of your kind reviews. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing for you guys! Please leave a review/favorite/follow! :)**


	6. Chapter 6

After Alison and Hanna made up, Hanna stayed back to hang around for a bit. The trio watched the movie that Alison and Emily were suppose to watch together - alone. They caught up on stuff that the runaway had missed over the 3 year she was gone. Although, all good things come to an end and sadly, Hanna had to head home - leaving the two former lovers alone. Within the time that the three girls were hanging out, the wind picked up a bunch and there was a storm.

Alison lets out a yawn, "Hey, Emmy, what time is it?"

The taller girl stretches and looks up at the clock hanging in the living room, "Um, 11:52pm"

"Oh, it's really late. I'm heading to bed." the blonde tiredly replies.

"Yeah, I am too." the brunette said while turning off the TV and following Ali down the hallway.

"Goodnight Em."

"Goodnight Ali."

The duo part ways and went to the respective rooms. As Alison went to her room, she could hear the loud wind banging against the windows, while the harsh rain was pouring down and the occasional piercing noise of thunder. Great, storms are just great. Not a lot of people knew this, but over the past 3 years the blonde grew a fear of storms. It wasn't the harsh rain nor the loud winds, it was the thunder that got to her the most. She never really liked loud sudden noises, because it was always unexpected, catching her off guard and vulnerable; and Alison hates feeling vulnerable. Back in Ravenswood, the runaway could never get a blink of sleep while there was a storm. Although, right now is different. She wasn't alone this time like she was for the past years - Emily was in the other room. However, with Emily just being in the same house as her wasn't going to settle her mind long enough for her to fall asleep.

Alison lets out a long sigh and exits her room, going to the room across from her's. _God, could you be anymore of a wimp then you are now?_ Alison rolled her eyes at her thoughts and slowly open Emily's bedroom door. The brunette's room a bit bigger compared to the guest room, it had similar furniture as the room Ali was sleeping in, but the only difference was that in the middle of the room was a queen sized bed. Emily was sound asleep on the left side of the bed - well, as much deep in sleep you can get within 3 minutes. The blonde fully opens the door, letting out a loud creak which of course, woke up the sleeping brunette.

Rubbing her eyes, so they would adjust to the darkness, Emily replies in a sleepy voice, "Ali?"

Even though the brunette singles her out in the darkness, the blonde didn't respond. Alison just stood by the door, trying to come up with a good excuse of why she is currently standing in Emily's room at 11:55pm when she had a perfectly good room herself.

"Ali, what are you doing here?" the taller girl mumbled tiredly, yawning soon after.

As Emily was questioning Alison's actions, a strike of lightning flashes from the window and soon after, the sound of thunder could be heard from over a mile away. Far away or not, Alison still visibly jumped to the loud noise, while the taller girl didn't even blink.

"Ali, are you scared of the storm?" the ex-swimmer finally putting the pieces together.

"N-no, I just h-have a fear of thunder." Ali mumbles the last part.

Even though the loud sounds of rain occupied the the room, Emily could still make what Alison said. "You're afraid of thunder?" she asks the runaway a little amused, "Alison Dilaurentis, afraid of thunder?"

"Oh hush you." the runaway crosses her hand and sends the ex-swimmer a smirk that she wouldn't be able to see in the dark.

Emily stretches, letting out a yawn and sitting up a bit. "You want to share my bed?" the brunette teases, patting the empty space beside her.

The blonde smiles and slowly walk towards Emily's bed, after making sure to close the door. As the runaway went up to the bed, the ex-swimmer lifted up the comforter. Alison got under the warm comforter and turns towards the brunette. The shorter girl got comfortable in the bed, while the taller girl watches in amusement. Emily smiles at Alison all cozy and comfortable under their shared comforter. It was a good thing that Emily only had short pajamas, because due to the girls under the comforter together along with the girl's body heat radiating from each other's body; things tend to heat up.

"All better?" the ex-swimmer giggles.

"Yep." the runaway cuddles closer to Emily.

_Oh god, oh god, oh god, Alison is insanely close._ Emily's heartbeat quicken irregularly fast, hopefully Alison doesn't notice. The blonde's eye suddenly felt heavy and soon fell into a light slumber. The brunette lets out a soft sigh and closes her eyes in hopes to fall asleep soon.

* * *

_Knock knock._ Emily woke up the warm sun streaming into her room. She rubs the grogginess from her eyes and ran her hand through her dark raven hair. The ex-swimmer looks over to her right, where Alison was sleeping last night to see that the runaway was still in a deep slumber. _Ali is so adorable when she's sleeping. Oh god, I sound like I creep. _

The brunette slowly lifted her hand to tuck a strand of blonde hair covering Alison's face, behind her ear. The blonde turns to face Emily, still in her deep slumber, and wraps her arm around the taller girl's waist. The taller girl smiles at Alison's action and watch as the shorter girl snuggles closer to her. I_ always found it cute when Ali wanted to be the big spoon because she thinks it make her look more tougher, but when honestly it made her look adorable._ Emily lets out a content sigh and closes her eyes.

_Knock knock._ The ex-swimmer's eyes shot wide open. The shorter girl mumbled some words that Emily cannot make out and pulls Emily impossibly closer. Well, apparently Alison likes to cuddle. The brunette slowly lifts the blonde's arm off of her so she would be able to get up. Leaving her room with a yawn, Emily made her way to the front door. She stops at the door and looks through the peek hole. On the other side stood a impatient redhead.

Unlocking the door and opening it, Emily greets her with a forced smile.

"Hey, Paige!" the brunette greets her former lover with a hint of sarcasm in her tone.

* * *

**A/N: DUN DUN DUUNNNN! I brought Paige back! :D Aha, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter because there was a lot of Emison scenes in this one. Anyways, I just want to thank all of you who favorited/followed/ and left a kind review, I really means a lot! I'm updating this on my phone because I love you guys, so all typos are mine. I'm heading to school now, like always, leave a review/follow/favorite. I'll update soon! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for not updating lately, school is being more stressful as the school year is coming to an end. I promise you, when I get out for summer (June 6th) I'll start updating more daily. Also, as for the guest who said that they are getting annoyed with my use of describing words for the characters (the fashionista, the ex-swimmer/swimmer, the runaway, etc.) I'm sorry, to hear that. If you could please inform me on how I could improve on that, I would be so grateful. I appreciate your review, but I would need more information on how I can improve other than "kind of annoying." Thanks.**

**To the story we go!**

* * *

"What are you doing here?" Emily asks the girl who is standing in front of her.

"Well, I took a break from Stanford for a week and decided to visit Rosewood!" Paige replies enthusiastically with a huge smile on her face.

"Oh." the brunette lets out, not as enthusiastic as the redhead.

"Oh?" Paige questions, obviously confused and a bit disappointed, "Are you not happy to see me, Em?"

Emily internally cringed at Paige using a nickname that Alison would typically use.

"No, no, It was just that- I wasn't expecting you, that's all." the ex-swimmer forces a smile.

"Come on, Em. Just because we broke up, that doesn't mean we can't hang out." Paige smiles.

The brunette instead of replying, Emily gave Paige a shrug. A soft thudding of bare feet against the hardwood floor is heard through the silent apartment.

"Is someone here?" the redhead questions, a bit curious if Emily moved on from her or not.

"Um, yeah." the ex-swimmer's heart rate starts picking up, turning her attention to the door, hoping Alison doesn't come out of the room. _Please don't open the door, please don't open the door, please don't open the door_. Emily inwardly panics.

"Oh," Paige sighs, disappointed, "Who is it?"

"What?" the brunette was snapped out of her little internal panic attack.

"Who is here?" the redhead clarifies.

"Um, my cousin from Paris… Vivian Darkbloom" Emily nods with a smile, satisfied with her lie.

"Sweet, can I meet her?"

"No!" the ex-swimmer says, a bit too loudly.

* * *

The light from peeking through the curtains, were no longer peeking. The room was lit up with the sun's bright rays, even with the curtain closed, the room still manages to be bright. The sleeping blonde in the queen sized bed, softly tossed and turned until she knew that she wouldn't be able to get any sleep due to the amount of light in the room. Blinking her eyes a few times, before squinting them so they would adjust to the brightness of the room, Alison was awaken from her slumber. Turning to her right, she noticed the sheets beside her were empty and cold. _Emily is probably in the living room, hopefully she didn't leave for work and left me home alone_. The runaway stretched, getting the tiredness out of her body and lazily got up from the bed. As Alison was making her way to the door, she heard a yell.

"No!"

Knitting her eyebrows together, she was questioning why Emily would be yelling. _Maybe she's on the phone. Well, I better go check to make sure_. Reaching for the handle, to open the door and go check up on the brunette, the blonde heard Emily continue.

"I mean, she's really shy when it comes to meeting new people."

Alison was lost. _Was Emily talking about me?_ The runaway shook her head. She wasn't shy when it came to meeting new people, she was the total opposite; she loved meeting new people, but most people were not fond of meeting 'Alison DiLaurentis the Queen Bee'. However, the blonde doesn't know that on the other side of the door Paige was still staring at the brunette in confusion. Ignoring all of the signs that there might be a person in the apartment, Alison attempts to open the door once again, just to be interrupted with a distant voice.

"Oh, well I didn't really come to see her anyways."

_Why does that voice sound so familiar?_ The runaway stood next to the door in deep thought, trying her best to remember her past. After a few seconds, a lightbulb went off in her mind. Although, the lightbulb was soon crushed by Alison herself, after acknowledging who it was outside in the living room with Emily. _Pigskin_.

* * *

"Oh, well I didn't really come to see her anyways." Paige replies, trying to play it off.

"Well, who did you come to see?"

"I wanted to see you, Em!"

"Duh! Of course." Emily rolls her eyes at how ignorant she was.

"Actually, I wanted to tell you something." the redhead confesses.

"Go ahead." the brunette says casually as she headed to the kitchen to make some coffee and to lear Paige away from the hallway that contains the bedroom, just in case Ali did leave the room.

Paige trails behind Emily, going into the familiar kitchen and taking a seat on one of Emily's barstools. "I actually wanted to tell you that, um…"

Emily picks up the coffee pot from out of the dishwasher and places it in the coffee machine. "Mmm?"

"I still love you, Em."

Emily felt her blood starting to boil, but tries her best to contain her anger. "What do you mean love? Do you mean as in friends because I'm pretty sure _friends_ are suppose to always love each other." she plays oblivious.

"You know what I mean, Emily." Paige rolls her eyes in annoyance that her ex-girlfriend is seriously trying to put off the conversation.

Emily lets out a sigh, turning around and leaning against the counter, now facing her former girlfriend. "Paige, you're the one who chea-"

"I know, Em! But my heart belongs to you. I'm so sorry about my actions in the past, I really regretted cheating on you right aft-" the redhead tries to explain.

"You only regretted it because I caught you!" the brunette yells, infuriated.

Paige sat there taken aback at her ex-girlfriend's remark. Averting her eyes from Emily, Paige whispers, "But, I still love you."

The ex-swimmer pinched the bridge of her nose; she was so fed up with her ex-girlfriend's stubbornness.

"I think it's best if you leave, Paige." Emily sighs.

The redhead opens her mouth to protest, but soon shuts it close. The room was silent, neither of the girls were looking at each other. After a few minutes of tension filled silence, Paige clears her throat to get Emily's attention.

"I guess if that's what you want; then I'll be on my way."

The ex-swimmer slowly brought her eyes up to meet the pair of eyes that she've grown to hate and gave Paige a tight lip smile, which the redhead returned. Paige got up from her seat and made her way to the front door, reaching for the door knob. Just as Emily thought she was in the clear, her former girlfriend turns around.

"But you do know that I want us to talk about this right? Settle it the right way."

Emily didn't know what to say back, her emotions were everywhere right now. Her anger and rage she felt towards Paige cheating on her, then proceeding to tell Emily that she still loves the brunette. Her compassion and sincerity towards how the redhead was taking all of Emily's harsh and sarcastic remarks ever since they broke up. Not to forget, the hint of love she still felt for her former lover. All Emily could do was nod her head, afraid that her mind would make her say something different. A small smile appears along Paige's lips and she begins to open the door, but before leaving she gives Emily a final message.

"You know that even though you're not really being fair to me right now. I want you to know that, I love _you_ no matter what. I'll still love _you_ even if you hate my guts. I'll still love _you_ if you've told me multiple times that you want nothing to do with me. I'll still love _you_ even if you've moved on and got with someone else. I will forever love _you_, Em. Remember that."

With the redhead's final words, she left the small apartment - leaving Emily alone with her thoughts.

* * *

**A/N: Here you go, a chapter to show Paige and Emily's relationship! Not really one of my best chapters, I believe. I will cover more of the background details in later chapters. School for me ends in a week, so I will be able to update a little bit more. However, I'm going on vacation to California from June 7th - 21st, so I won't be able to update that frequently. But that doesn't mean that I can't try my best to write as much as possible for you guys! Aha, I hope you guys enjoyed my chapter. If you have any suggestions or helpful tips on writing (because I'm not really skilled in writing, aha) please leave a review. Also, remember to follow and favorite, it means a lot to me and motivates me to write more often. Thank you so much for reading my story! Have a nice day/afternoon/night! :)**


	8. Chapter 8

Tears threatened to pour out of the brunette's eyes, prickling them. But before Emily could blink them away, a few droplets ran down her cheeks, leaving moist trails as they made their way down. The ex-swimmer never enjoyed crying, especially when it was over Paige; the redhead was the one who is suppose to be crying, not her. Sniffling, Emily quickly wiped away the tear streaks and took deep breaths as she heard a door slowly creak open.

"Emily?" the runaway calls out.

"In the kitchen!" the brunette replies, her voice cracking a bit.

_Shit._ Emily was fully aware that the blonde could hear her voice crack. The familiar patting of Ali's bare feet against the hardwood flooring got louder with each step. The brunette ran a hand through her hair and quickly recomposed herself.

"Your apartment is cold." the shorter states as she stretched out her arms to wake herself up a bit.

"Mmm, well I do have hardwood floors and my heater is crap. Maybe that's your problem." the taller girl teases the sleepy blonde.

The runaway sends the brunette a lazy smile, before her eyes finally adjusted to the daylight and notice that Emily's eyes were bloodshot. "What's wrong, Em? Did Pigskin do something to you?" the blonde asks, rushing to the ex-swimmer, now fully awake.

The taller blinked, confused on how the shorter could read her so well, but decides to play it off. "What do you mean, Ali?"

"Your eyes have a red tint to them and they are glossy." the runaway says as she reached the ex-swimmer and caressed Emily's cheek. "It's either you were crying or you were smoking weed, but I'm going to go with the first option." she smiles.

Emily chuckles and slowly removes Alison's hand from her cheek, holding it. "I'm fine, Ali. It was just tha-" the brunette's sentence was cut off when she finally processed the runaway's previous questions. "Wait, how did you know Paige was here?" she loosens her grip on shorter girl's arm.

"So I was right?" the blonde questions, raising an eyebrow.

"Right about what?"

The ex-swimmer was confused and lost. Well, more confused than she was before, but either way she was confused.

"That Pigskin was here." the runaway clarifies softly.

"Can you not call her Pigskin?" Emily getting a bit annoyed with Alison. _Isn't she suppose to be comforting me, not insulting my ex-girlfriend?_

Alison chuckles, shaking her head. "Have you seen her skin?" a hint of venom in her voice.

The brunette shot the blonde a look of disbelief. _Are we really having an argument about what to call Paige?_ After the shorter girl's question the room had a heavy tension between the two former best friends.

"Yes, I have actually." The ex-swimmer's grip on the runaway's hand tightening as she spoke through gritted teeth. "We _did _date for 2 _years._"

Alison yanked her hand from Emily's grip, sending the taller girl a glare while holding her wrist. "Well, I'm sorry to hear that Ems." she says as she walks out of the kitchen.

"Sorry for what?" the taller girl asks as she follows the shorter girl to the living room, stopping by the coach.

"That you wasted 2 years with that _thing_." Alison states as she continues walking to the coat closet.

"You know what, Ali?"

"What, Emily?" the runaway turned around crossing her arms.

The brunette was hesitant, she never liked arguing with the blonde. Every time they argued, the blonde would ignore her, flirt with multiple guys in front of the ex-swimmer, then come back a few days later as if nothing ever happened. It hurt; arguing with Alison hurt. The blonde always knew what to do to slowly kill her and Emily hated that. _Go ahead Fields, give her a taste of her own medicine._

"At least she loved me. At least during that 2 years I spent with Paige, I actually felt loved; something that I didn't feel when we were together."

The shorter girl stood there, shocked. _I do love you, Emily. _Her heart felt like it was ripped out and thrown on the ground as if it was worthless trash. Both girls were on the verge of tears, but neither of them said anything.

* * *

Alison shook her head, not wanting to believe what came out of Emily's mouth. She wanted to believe that even after all of those years of constant "make-out practice for boys" and teasing of outing Emily, that the brunette would always come back; she _always _does, but this time was no acception.

The runaway rushed to the guest bedroom, tears streaming down her pale cheeks. As Alison got into her room she quickly shuts the door close, sliding down on with her back against it. _Stop crying. Stop crying. GOD DAMN IT, STOP CRYING ALISON DILAURENTIS. _Ali furiously tried to wipe away the tears, but instead all she did was spread the salty water across her cheek. The blonde pulled her knees up to her chest, her breath getting irregularly fast. _Why do I feel like this? I-This is a new feeling and I don't like it. _Her chest, where her heart is located, ached and the feeling wasn't going away. Alison ran her hand through her hair letting out a sigh with a mixture of frustration and tiredness. The blonde sat on the ground for a few for minutes before standing up and made her way to the dresser. Leaning against the wooden dresser, Ali took a better look at her reflection in the mirror, but visibly cringed when she saw herself. She hated how she looked, puffy bloodshot eyes, dried tear stains, gross bed hair; to her, she looked absolutely repulsive. _God, I look disgusting. _The voice in her head was no longer her's, it was someone completely different. It was the same voice that controlled her mind for years when she attended Rosewood High, the same voice that drove her away her sanity; the exact same voice that drove Emily away. _Alison DiLaurentis, you're such a horrible human being._

* * *

"_What are you doing?" the blonde whips around to face the brunette._

"_N-Nothing I- just." Emily stutters, taking a step back._

"_You just what?" Alison questions, looking into Emily's eyes for an answer. The taller girl didn't respond, so the shorter girl continues, "Just because we kissed in the library, Emily, doesn't mean I'm into you like that."_

_Emily stood there, speechless, she didn't know what to say to Alison to explain herself; but that's the thing, nothing she could say would explain what she just did. The brunette felt her heart break, why does Alison always have to be like this? "A kiss is a kiss. I like boys and trust me if I'm kissing you, it's for practice for the real thing." the blonde shot when it looked like Emily showed no signs of saying anything. _

_Alison resumed to her business and bent to her locker to grab something. The brunette slumped her shoulders in defeat and grabbed her towel that was hung on the her locker door, closing the door while she was at it. The taller girl quickly grabbed her bags from the bench and walked towards the exit_

"_Where're you going? You're my ride, remember?" The shorter girl calls out, a bit annoyed at how Emily was acting lately._

_As she heard Alison's words, Emily stopped in her tracks. There's no way Emily could stand another minute alone with Alison. She didn't want anything to do with Alison right now._

_"I'll wait for you in the car." the brunette explains as she made her way out of the locker room. Emily always hated this side of Alison, the "Queen Bee" act, the side that everyone in school saw, but she knows for a fact that isn't the real Alison. The real Alison is sweet, caring, and is not afraid to be herself when she was alone with Emily - or as Emily once thought. The blonde was always mysterious to the brunette, she could never read Alison as well as Alison read Emily. Tightening her grip on her bag, Emily fastened her pace to the school's front entrance. Pushing the heavy metal doors out of her way, the swimmer can make out the sound of heels clicking against the school's tile flooring._

"_Emily." the blonde calls out, but the brunette didn't turn around, she just kept making her way to her car. "Emily!" the same voice calls out a bit louder this time, along with the sound of clicking quickening. Finally reaching her destination, the taller girl unlocks her car door and immediately got in and shutting the car door with such force, it was a surprise that the door didn't break off. The swimmer toss her head back and lets out a sigh in defeat. Why is it so hard to get Alison out of my head? The sound of the passenger's side door opening startled Emily from her thoughts, causing her to open her eyes and visibly jump in her seat. The now, frustrated blonde got in the car and took a seat, slamming the door while she was at it. Everything outside of the car seemed to become noticeably quiet, as the two girls sat in the car with such thick tension within such a small space._

_Alison lets out an annoyed groan and turned her body towards Emily, "What the fuck, Em?"_

_But, the swimmer didn't even move the slightest bit towards Alison. Emily just sat in her seat, looking forward at the front of the school. "I literally called your name like five times back there trying to tell you to slow down." the short girl continued, trying her best not to snap. However, Ali had no luck with Emily as she, again, did not budge from her position. "What the fuck has been going on with you lately, Emily?" Alison says a bit louder than she expected, grabbing Emily so she would be facing her._

"_You!" Emily finally speaks, well rather yell, at the blonde in front of her. "You're what's wrong with me!" the swimmer continues, pushing Alison off of her._

_The blonde scooted backwards so her back was against the cool car door, she was dumbfounded; for the first time, Alison DiLaurentis was speechless. the brunette rolled her eyes in pure annoyance and continued her rant._

"_Alison DiLaurentis, you're the reason why I'm alway "out of it" now. You're the reason why I stay up late at night. You don't see it, do you?" Alison opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Emily. "No, you don't. You don't see that I actually have feelings for you! And when you tell me all of this, what we have, is just "practice for the real thing"... it kills me! Because I love you Alison DiLaurentis! I love you more than a friend should love their best friend and I-" _

_By this point, Emily was tearing up and Alison was still shocked at Emily's confession. She always thought what she and Emily had was just a fling, a simple joke between the two friends where they joke about one being lesbian; Alison never knew that Emily actually developed feelings for the girl. But then again, Ali was always so oblivious to these types of things; hurting her loved ones, hurting the people around her - hurting Emily. Alison slowly raised her hand to try and wipe away the tears streaming down the swimmer's cheek, but her kind gesture was rejected when she felt a slight sting of her hand being slapped away._

_Emily wiped away her tears by herself and spoke up once more "All you ever did to me was play me; you played Aria, Hanna, Spencer as well! You played all of us as if we were some sort of stupid board game to you! God, I love you Ali and you don't take that seriously!I mean why did I even fall for you, Ali?! Alison DiLaurentis, you're such a horrible human being." The swimmer shook her head in disapproval and got settled back in her seat, turning the keys to start the engine. The duo buckled their seat belts in silence and Emily began to back out of the school parking lot. Alison was awfully quiet and the word quiet and Alison do not go together. The brunette rolled her eyes at the fact that the blonde didn't even bother to explain herself. Although, Emily didn't know that inside her words were killing Alison. The shorter girl's heart is broken, but not because of what Emily said... of course not! Alison DiLaurentis does not fall for girls; Alison DiLaurentis is the "It" girl of Rosewood and she likes guys, not girls... right?_

* * *

Next thing she knew, her right fist came into contact with the expensive mirror, causing it to erupt into a crystal shower. Feeling small, jagged shards of glass pinch her knuckles, drawing blood from them; Alison tries to back away from the scattered glass, but misplaces her footing and fell backwards landing on her back with a loud thump. _You're such a failure, Alison DiLaurentis. You can't even walk backwards properly, let alone keep Emily._ The familiar prickling feeling of tears returned to the runaway's eyes, but this time she wasn't stopping them. The tears quickly travels down her rosy cheeks, down to the end at her chin and then drips down one by one, staining Emily's t-shirt that she was wearing for pajamas. Emily's words were stuck in the runaway's head, taunting her.

_Knock knock._

"Alison?" the voice on the other side of the door asks with a careful tone.

_I actually felt loved, _the blonde rapidly place her hand over her mouth trying to silence her cries. _Something that I didn't feel when we were together._ Processing the familiar voice, the runaway instantly raised from her position on the floor. _Emily can't see me like this._

* * *

Emily lets out a tired sigh, confronting Alison wasn't as satisfying as she thought it would be. Instead of the feeling of the weight on her shoulders being lifted, she felt as if the weight got heavier. _Should I go comfort her? Wait, no that's ridiculously stupid. I just yelled at her and now I'm comforting her, that doesn't make sense. _The brunette's head ached, today was eventful and it's only 12:00m.

Thinking its the best to let the blonde calm down, the brunette made her way back to the kitchen to resume making coffee. After the coffee was finished, Emily poured it into two mugs and let it cool, before adding sugar and cream to the respective mugs. The ex-swimmer brought up her mug up to her lips, tasting the bitter warm liquid. After taking a sip of her coffee, Emily decided it would be a good time to give Alison her cup of coffee. The brunette set down her mug to pick up the other one sitting on the counter and made her way over to the bedrooms. As she was about to knock on Alison's bedroom door, she heard the muffled sound of glass shattering and fainted sobs.

"Alison?" Emily asks cautiously, lightly knocking on the door.

The crying stopped and the apartment was silent, but Emily could still make out the blonde's heavy breaths.

"Ali, what's going on in there?" the ex-swimmer asks, her voice filled with concern.

* * *

**A/N: DUN DUN DUUUNNNN. What's going on with Ali? Will Emily find out? Aha, follow the story to find out! So guys, as you know summer starts in 1 day (June 6th) and I might update or I might not; I honestly do not know. My friends have a lot planned out for me when I visit, so I'll try my best. I hope you enjoy this chapter and if you did please leave a review/follow/favorite. I love you guys so much and thank you for giving me so much support! I'll see you guys in the next update! (btw this chapter is longer than the others just in case I take too long to update the next chapter, aha)**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Hey guys! Guess who's back in her hometown for the month? This girl, aha. So again, to the guest that reviewed, thank you! I appreciate you telling me what I needed to work on in my story. I'm glad that you replied back and I will try to work on it as best as I can. That review actually meant a lot to me because instead of reading my story and leaving it due to how I wrote, you actually stuck around and helped me. Thank you so much.**

* * *

_There were many things that were Alison's achilles' heel. For example, failing at school, disappointing her friends and family, being insulted by someone who is actually brave enough to stand up to her...Emily. Not that anyone would care, but Alison DiLaurentis does get hurt from what people call her. As if being "Queen Bee" was stressful enough, now she has to worry about keeping her fellow student body happy too. Every day the blonde must get dressed, do her hair and makeup perfectly, keep her grades up, not to get into trouble, and keep her popularity status along with making everyone like her; That was too much for Ali… well, too much for any high school student in that case. Alison DiLaurentis has been the "Queen Bee" of Rosewood High School ever since she started attending the school. She has been keeping up this act for 3 years; 3 years of stupid rumors and people talking behind her back. But she still managed to put on a smile and act as if everything was okay, even though at times they weren't._

_Because nobody really pays attention to the blonde long enough other than to insult her to notice the faded scars on her thighs whenever her obviously out of school dress code skirt or dress rides up too high. Also, her friends wouldn't even acknowledge Ali's absence during some of the their Girl's Night, assuming that she's off with some guy at a college party or some sort; When she's actually at home with tear stains ruining her makeup and clothes. Alison DiLaurentis was the "It" girl of Rosewood High, but to her she was insignificant. How could she be worth so much at others when all they do is try to break her down as if she was nothing?_

_When Junior year came, the pressure of being the "Queen Bee" got to the blonde. All she ever did over the past 3 years of highschool was made more enemies than she had friends and the friends she did have, she pushed away by pelting them with snarky comment. She noticed that the person she was during Junior year, wasn't her. Sure, it was her body and she did acknowledge what she was doing is horrible. But, it was as if something was controlling her every action while she just sat there and watch herself destroy everything that she ever cared about._

_After about a month into Junior year, while everybody was busy doing whatever high schoolers do on a Saturday night, Alison sat alone in her room and made a life changing decision. She couldn't take it anymore, the voice was making her lose her sanity and she surely didn't want anyone to deal with an insane Alison DiLaurentis; a sane Alison DiLaurentis was already a handful. So, maybe she did stretch the truth a bit when her friends went looking for her. Her letter did say that she left because she needed to go find herself and she did, but she just didn't mention why. Her friends probably would assume that she used that as an excuse to go off on a trip out of the country, which is fine by her because at least that story seem believable because she knew that no one would ever believe that Alison DiLaurentis, Rosewood High's "It" girl, signed herself in to a psychiatric hospital in New York._

* * *

"Ali, are you okay?" Emily's voice calls from the other side of the wooden door.

By now, the tear stain on her cheeks have somewhat dried, leaving her rosy cheeks moist. Her breathing was urgent, as if every time she was taking in air it felt like she was losing twice the amount. Also, her heart was beating rapidly that she thought it will burst any second. It's been so long since Ali has had a meltdown like this one; and these meltdowns were common for her in highschool, but no one needs to know that.

_You're such a failure. It's been years since you had a meltdown and you ruined it._ The blonde tries shaking her familiar voice out of her head. She tried so hard to get rid of it, just for it to come back to taunt her after years of hard work. _You're stuck with me Ali because I am you! I'm the person people think of when your name comes up. Admit it, they don't think of a sweet and caring person when they hear "Alison DiLaurentis.", they think of the cold-hearted bitch you are. _Sadly, Ali knew the voice she heard was true - it was always true. As she was about to tear up for like the third time this morning, at the corner of Alison's eye she saw a quick flash of light.

Turning her head to see the source of the light, it turns out to be a big shard of the mirror reflecting the light in her room. The blonde looks down at her legs, noticing that her pajama shorts riding up, showing off her almost completely faded scars just like in high school. _Bad habits die hard. _But to Alison... well the _real_ Alison, her mental state wasn't a bad habit. She found the simplest things triggering, it has gotten to the point where when people laugh, she can't help but think they are laughing at her. That was the whole reason why she left Rosewood for New York, because she wanted to be herself again. The Alison who loved Girl's Night, the Ali who cherished every moment she had alone with Emily, the girl who loved her family and friends more than anything else; not the girl whose own mother is scared to look at her, not the Ali whose friends are beginning to look at her as an enemy more than a friend... the Alison who Emily has fallen out of love with.

_Knock knock._

"Ali? You're really quiet and it's worrying me a little." Emily's voice interrupted Ali's train of thought.

Although, Alison was still focused on the triggering shard of glass laying on the floor; it was mocking her. _Do it. _The blonde stared at the shard, but should she give in? Would she just throw away 3 years of being clean just because of some voice in her head? Once again, Alison had an ongoing internal battle between herself and the teasing voice.

* * *

Emily has been calling out Ali's name multiple times without getting a response. The brunette was starting to get worried and a little bit scared. Knowing that it would be completely useless that she call out the blonde's name again, she finally decided to go back to the kitchen to put down the now room temperature mug of coffee and went back to the hallway. Instead of stopping in front of the guest bedroom's door, Emily walked straight into her room. Disregarding the fact that her bed was still in need to be made, she headed to the nightstand right to her bed. Bending down to pull out the bottom wooden drawer, she retrieves a small key. _Why haven't I thought of this earlier._ She rolls her eyes at how oblivious she've been lately. _Am I really that oblivious? _She shook her head, _Wait, that's not important. Ali - Ali is what's important right now. _Emily pushes the drawer shut and got back up, leaving her room and heading across the hall.

Inserting the key and turning the lock, Emily felt slightly relieved getting one problem out of the way. Pushing the wooden door open, she was met different sized pieces of glass scattered across the floor in front of the door. Along with the sight of Alison on the floor with her makeup obviously ruined by her tears and her eyes filled with slight anger. As Emily fully pushes the door open, she saw that the blonde was holding up a rather large shard of glass in her right hand, hovering over her thighs. Putting two and two together, Emily ran towards Ali, not caring if she get's cut with the tiny pieces of glass on the floor, and took the shard out of her hand.

"What the hell, Alison?!" the brunette yells louder than intended.

The blonde looks up to Emily's towering figure from her stop on the floor, her vision blurred to her fresh tears. "Emily." Alison said, well more like whispered in shock.

Emily looks down Ali, feeling that oh-so-familiar feeling of her heart breaking. Instead of getting mad, she lets out a frustrated sigh and ran a hand through her hair. Emily looked around on the ground before sitting down next to the quiet blonde. "Ali… why would you do this to yourself? You know that this isn't going to solve anything." she asks softly.

A wave of guilt rushed over Alison, "I-I'm so sorry, Emily." she apologized as her tears started to return. "I'm sorry."

Emily pulled Alison into a hug, resting the blonde's head on her chest. "Shhh." she cooed, "You didn't do anything wrong, Ali."

Just as Emily said the last sentence, Alison pulled away from the hug and her bottom lip began to quiver, trying to hold in her broken sobs. She steadily averts her eyes from the brunette, but instead focuses her attention on her left thigh which was covered with her pajama shorts. Grabbing at the hem of the shorts, she slowly pulls it towards her, exposing her thigh a bit. Emily watches in confusion, but follows Alison's line of focus to see three asymmetrical lines that had a thin lines of blood trickling from them. Near them were bunch of uneven cuts, but they were faded and had more of a pink tone to them compared to Alison's original skin tone. Emily looks up at Ali with an expression of a mixture of being confused and shocked.

"This isn't your first time doing this is it?" the brunette whispers, afraid to find out the real answer.

Alison shook her head, not trusting her voice and mouthed 'no'. After sitting in silence while staring at each other, Alison's sobs died down. "I'm sorry, Em." she mumbles.

Emily blinked, lost. "Sorry for what, Ali? You did noth-"

"I did do something wrong, Emily!" Alison yelled, which caused Emily to be taken aback. "I-I made you feel like complete shit! You're right I am a horrible pers-"

"You're not a horrible person, Ali… I only called you that because I was mad… I was mad at the fact that I couldn't have Alison DiLaure-"

"No! Emily, you don't need to make up excuses. You did the right choice by falling out of love with me."

Okay, now Emily was _really_ lost. "Falling out of love with you? Who said anything about me not loving you?"

"No one… no one had to say anything. I don't deserve to be loved, Em."

"You do." Emily corrects the blonde.

"No, I don't! Emily, don't you get it? _You_ were right, I'm horrible. I'm nothing but a bitch."

"Okay, if you think you're a bitch-"

"Because I am." Alison points out.

"Then I'm hopelessly in love with a female dog." Emily continues, finishing her sentence with a dorky smile.

"Wait, what?" Alison furrows her eyebrows in confusion, staring at the brunette in front of her.

Emily gently grabs Alison's face and leans forward, their lips meeting softly. It took a second before Ali reciprocates to the kiss, but her eyes fluttered shut and she felt the heaviness in her chest going away. When Alison finally responds to the kiss, Emily's heart skipped a beat. Alison's lips were softer than she remembered, but then again the last time she kissed Alison was over 3 years ago. Before the kiss could deepen, the girls pulled apart, smiling.

"Ali, I love you." Emily whispers and with those 3 words, Alison could feel her heart melt and her cheeks blush.

* * *

**A/N: There you go, chapter 9! Aha, I don't know how I feel about this chapter, but it will have to do because I really wanted to update for you guys. Any how, did I ever tell you guys how much I love you? No? Well, I do. You guys are the reason why I'm always motivated to keep updating this story instead of deleting it and act as if I never wrote it. You guys are the best. More updates coming soon! As always, please leave a review/favorite/follow. (:**


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